August is a weird month. It still feels hot and heavy, like summer. But I’m already prepping hard for deer season. This is the month of the big freezer clean-out, checking trail cameras, hanging treestands, knocking the dust off of gear, and sharpening the knives and the skills that have been sitting mostly unused while it’s been too hot outside to think straight.
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One Moment
There is a spider living in my pantry.
She has built a web stretched from the bottom of the second shelf to the top of a jar of last year’s pickled okra. It seems like an odd choice of real estate, but it is where she calls home.
When I open the door, her long, delicate legs pluck the strands like harp strings as she scurries to the darkness behind the jar, startled by the sudden burst of light hitting all eight of her eyes. I’ve taken to only opening the door halfway, just enough room to add the newest jars of pickles and preserves, trying to salvage a little piece of her privacy.
Because who am I to judge where someone calls home? The okra belongs to her now.
On the Table
The deer season archery opener is less than 6 weeks away. That means we’ve officially entered “clean out the freezer” season. I’ve got a lot of work to do.
This week, I pulled a bear shoulder bone from the bottom of the upright freezer (the chest freezer is currently occupied by a bear pelt and a whole tundra swan, both waiting on an appointment with a taxidermist).
It is simmering low and slow with a couple of handfuls of vegetable scraps — onion skins, celery leaves, carrot peels, red pepper tops. Later this week, I will strain the liquid before ladling it into jars and then popping them into the pressure canner.
I’ll try not to displace the spider when I slide them into the pantry.
Field Notes
This week, my watch died halfway through a walk with Penny Dog.
I joked that the calories and steps didn’t count if they didn’t get logged on my fitness app. Like they were imaginary because no little screen had recorded them.
The joke bothered me after I sat with it a while.
Because the walk happened. My legs carried me through the thick Southern humidity while Penny chased interesting smells. Squirrels scattered up pecan trees, peeking around the sides to see if the dog might try a game of tag. We still upset the mockingbird that likes to yell at Penny from the crepe myrtle beside the churchyard.
Nothing about that walk changed because my watch battery died.
But I think we’ve convinced ourselves that things only count if we can measure them. Steps. Calories. Likes. Comments. Followers. Productivity metrics.
I’m not going to lie. I’m a data junkie. I love to track metrics. Data can be hella useful. But it’s a poor substitute for meaning.
Some things matter because they happened, not because they produced a number. Like my walks with Penny, fitness tracker or no. Like the bucks on my wall, whether they made the Boone and Crockett record book or not. Like the meals I cook from food I’ve harvested, calories and grams of protein be damned.
Like a spider tending a web beside a jar of pickled okra.
Because the really good stuff, the real stuff, is dang hard to measure.
Out in the Wild
If you happen to be roaming around free on the internet this week, here’s where you can find me.
The Easiest Way to Catch Fish from the Beach (MeatEater)
Research for this one was hard work, and included a day trip to Pea Island Wildlife Refuge, which involved a lot of sunshine, surf, and solitude. Tough day, but somebody had to do it.
Build a Better Hunting Rig with UTV Upgrades and Accessories That Actually Matter (MeatEater)
This one is practical, especially if you are trying to minimize the number of steps your fitness app needs to track this hunting season.
Looking Ahead
This week I’m rushing to meet a deadline for Blade magazine on hunting knives. I’m also canning bear broth, working my way through freezer meat, and trying to get creative with the last of the garden zucchini (Zucchini spice cake with cream cheese frosting, anyone?)
I’ll see you back here next Tuesday. In the meantime, I hope you find something this week that doesn’t need to be measured on a screen.
Share with someone who would negotiate a roommate agreement with a pantry spider.
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